Tour of st Peters and the Sistine Chapel

There is no tour of The Sistine Chapel that I know of, there is no (loud) talking allowed inside the Chapel. I recommend the Rick Steve's audio guide for this and a pocket-sized pair of binoculars to see the details. For St. Peters, I recommend using the Rick Steves audio guide as well. As long as you are able to start and stop an iPod and follow directions to the next vignette, you will be fine.

I was very happy with Context Rome, and the small group size (no more than 6) really helps, given the crowds. The previous poster is correct that guides are not allowed to give talks in the chapel (although on the Context tour I took, the guide, who was a specialist in Baroque art, quietly talked me through certain details, while the rest of our group was occupied with looking).

There are tours of the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, some of those tours will talk about the Chapel before entering it. Some tours also include the Basilica. As far as which tour is the best, it really depends on what your are looking for. Some tours concentrate more on the art, some are longer, etc. The Vatican offers tours themselves and there are third party groups that also have tours. Cost can vary greatly depending on which type of tour and how many people are on the tour.

We used Ricks' free audio tours for St. Peter's, the Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel (which is at the end of the Vatican Museum). You can just download them from Itunes. While not completely exhaustive of everything in the Vatican Museum, we were completely satisfied with them. The Sistine Chapel one was especially helpful as it was really hard to try to read about the Sistine Chapel and then try to find it on the ceiling.

If you do take a tour, I highly recommend Context as a tour company. I took their Palatine/Forum/Colosseum tour and it was incredibly (although very long and hot) thorough. Our guide had a PhD. in archaeology from Oxford. They only take very small groups of 6 or less and are quite pricey, but if you really want to learn something and not merely be led around by the nose, this is the company to use.

You might also consider Walks of Italy. They also specialize in small group sizes (less than 12); I work with these guys and can tell you everyone there are passionate, knowledgeable guides. The prices are much cheaper than places like Context. Also, they offer something I haven't seen many other companies offer [INVALID] a tour that gets you into the Sistine Chapel before the general public can get in. You can see all their tours at www.walksofitaly.com. Happy traveling!